Buzzmutt - Static In the Mind's Eye Chpt 1

Buzzmutt – Static in the Mind’s Eye – Chapter 1

Earlier in the year I ventured out of the house to see a reasonably well-known American psychedelic band who were really just Black Sabbath clones in different clothes and haircuts, not that there’s anything wrong with that unlike paraphrasing hit and miss TV comedy shows. The band asked for no photos to be taken and the mirror ball with the lights took care of that anyway because most of the pictures wouldn’t have turned out. Listening to Buzzmutt from San Francisco, it’s easy to picture them using the lighting and mirrorball as another instrument or even a separate band member.

There’s no faking pscychedelia in Buzzmutt’s music; these guys are not just weekend flare wearers and incense burners. It would be totally incorrect to state that there is a hallucegenic undertone because if Hunter s. Thompson was to be in a band Buzzmutt would be that band. The band conveys a spaced out airiness in songs like “The Trickster” and “Adjusted Sight”. The rythym section proves their worth in “Coming To”. If chemical lounge jazz swing isn’t a genre yet then “I Don’t Remember Pain” sets a precedent. “After That” rubs with a Velvet Underground rawness vocally although there’s a pervading spring of a puppy here too. Stylistically these guys are capable of going all over the map while retaining their own sound and testament to that is when garage punk parks up and yells and sings “Sharp like Razor”. Pleasurable distortion without added weird primal effects sums up “Jungle Zombie”.

These guys sent me an email describing their music as noisy experimental indie rock kind of stuff. The word "expreimental" is often used in musician speak and means only listenable to the band and a few of their friends. Believe me, that’s not the case here. All too often twelve songs from an unknown band wear out there welcome however Buzzmutt have abided by the review rulebook and followed Rule 1117 section E, which categorically states don't make each song sound the same but if you do then make certain that your band don't sound like shit. Unfortunately most bands don't even read the rulebook past page 3, the forming a band section.

Buzzmutt may have their own sound but one song sounds different enough to another for them to not only get away with it but for the length to make sense. No complaints about this release being too short either from this reviewer. It’s available from their bandcamp site at a price of your choosing or on cassette from the band.

4.5/5




Buzzmutt's bandcamp

Buzzmutt on facebook




Small takeover on facebook

The Chills - Peel Sessions

One of the first CD's to ever make it to my collection was a Bauhaus Peel Session. When I bought it I knew next to nothing about John Peel except the bland album covers with Peel sessions written on featured a number of bands I like and I was only familiar with about two Bauhaus songs. This post has little to do with goths unless you count the cold of New Zealand's South Island (where I'm headed for a little while). The Chills come from the South Island and John Peel comes from England. At some point both met to produce a Peel Session album.

Here

Sneaky Feelings - Husband House

This was the first ever Flying Nun video I saw. It was on a music show called Radio With Pictures in the mid 80's. The show was renowned for playing much less commercial music than Ready To Roll, which concentrated on top 40. RWP would play Motorhead, Iron Maiden back to back with XTC and The Smiths.
Often watching Radio With Pictures meant going to bed, waiting for other familty members to go to bed so I could crawl back out into the longue, close the doors, turn the tv on, watch the show and then watch the Sunday horror movie that usually followed and ended around midnight. Usually the following day at school, the horror movie would be the topic of conversation.

The Bats San Francisco Bath House, Wellington April 5th

First band up were Minisnap. Minisnap are one guy with three of The Bats featuring Kay Woodward on vocals. Like the band 75 percent of their members are from they play perfect indie guitar pop that should be getting commercial radio play but likely isn't. They played a lot of songs from their Bounce Around album but as I'm useless I don't own the album and don't have a setlist. However I do have a Youtube clip from the show.








Next up were Wellington band, Holiday With Friends who I knew absolutely nothing about. They're an indie type pop band who used to filter The Velvet Underground, The Strokes, Patti Smith, Jonathan Richman and The Ramones according to another blogger. The band feature three females and two males, this ratio is important because there are four singing band members. There were some lovely keyboards, glockenspiels, and handclaps utilized throoughout their set. Their sound to my ears was like Lloyd Cole meeting Nina Hagen while UK Squeeze played in Dr Who's tardis. They managed to get a lot of the audience up and dancing.




Then The Bats came on and played a lot of new songs mixed with old songs. I really enjoyed hearing Boogey Man live and thanks to the wonders of Youtube you can enjoy it at a differing level of enjoyment from mine.




Then they left and came back with an encore which featured Block of Wood and North by North. As I was walking home I heard one young Asian guy who can't have been much more than 20 say to another; "I especially enjoyed those last two songs."
Just thinking that those songs by The Bats are over 20 years old amazes me. The band's audience were a mixture of young and old. I saw people old enough to be my parents and I'm no spring chicken at the wrong side of thirty.